Beauty is difficult. Discuss this claim with reference to female representation in the fashion image.
This essay is about the claim/quote ‘Beauty is difficult’ and how it is represented in the female fashion industry. I will be discussing different explanations to why this statement is accurate. My essay will include three different topics associated with the point in question and how beauty has been affected by it. These topics include Choice, Culture and Freedom.
My first point towards this claim is choice. As the industries build up in fashion,there is a high increase in choice. For example, If you went to an affordable-based high street stores (For example, Primark, New Look and missguided, etc.), you could find multiple versions of the same kind of clothing. However, this can also be found in high-end stores, for example Zara, The White Company, etcetera; with the same styles of clothing. Stores use this technique to create new trends for people to catch and hold on to. Having choice creates difficult decisions, like what if I brought this item and it’s more flimsy than the same item in the other stores?; is it worth the extra money?, what could I wear with this piece of clothing.
This can be seen in the example:
The Guardian. 2017.Flat-pack fashion: Ikea takes swipe at Balenciaga's $2,150 shopping bag | Fashion | The Guardian. [ONLINE] Availableat: [Accessed 05 January 2018].
This image displays an article about how a high-end brand has recreated a cheap Ikea shopping bag into a $2,150 bag. Items are recreated most of the time, if you look back fifty years you would likely be able to go to a clothing store and find a replica of that item which is more expensive with a recent stylistic touch.Choice is shown through every day life, look online, visit a supermarket, go clothes shopping, choice is everywhere and is taking over, life was simple before choice. You got what you were given,and you were thankful for it, now you have millions of options of what to wear, eat and how to live.
Andreas Gursky | works - Media Markt. 2016.Andreas Gursky | works - Media Markt. [ONLINE] Available at: [Accessed 05 January 2018].
My second point is culture and how it effects beauty around the world. There are multiple religions and cultures around the world including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and Sikhism, etc to name a few. As well, for cultures we have: American culture, African culture, Chinese culture, Italian culture, etc. Our world is made up of many groups each of which divide in fashion; lifestyle and more. For example, within Hinduism, women wear saris with a lehenga skirt and a choli top. Whereas, within Sikhism, men and women are not allowed to cut their hair and are required to wear a head scarf upon themselves.
PBS Learning Media. Date created unknown. World religions map. [ONLINE] Available at: [Accessed 10 January 2018].
The world map above displays main types of religion found in each country. As we can see from above most of the world is involved in Christianity. Whilst, Christianity is the main type of religion, it has no specific dress code, however the way of life and the way they should act and have a look of purity to them,this lifestyle affects how they may dress and the types of fashion created for them. For example, most people belonging to that specific religion, wear the cross around their necks, or the people of the church usually wear a long, simple white robe, like the priest etc.
Fashion and beauty in culture & religion has expanded and grown throughout the years, as rules disband and find themselves lost and not used. You could find that in Sikhism and Islam when the religion first became initially official, their head scarfs were black, however now beauty has expanded so that it is now known for them to wear other colours and patterns. Spreading individuality and identity around the world.
In each culture, there is certain trend of what beauty looks like. Keeping to this trend can affect the way you live life, for example you could be expected to dress in long, full-length clothes, covering each layer of skin on your body or maybe you could be expected to wear barely anything because of heat and the weather.
In each country around the world, there is different types of weather and temperatures. You could be living in hot country, that has a temperature over 60ﹾc, this could affect the way you see beauty. It could also effect how someone else sees beauty if they’re visiting from another climate. Beauty can be seen as being different or being the same as others.
Each country has different rules on what to wear and what not to wear. These rules are then extended into schools, as they justify what you are supposed to look like and wear. This destroys individuality and makes choice and beauty harder to create. Most clothes in stores these days don’t abide by school clothing codes. They create expensive, short, see-through clothes that young girls should not be expected to wear. According to the schools this then creates complications in the fashion industry as everyone tries to keep up with the trends, forcing girls to grow up faster than normal. This creates the tension and the thought of what is beautiful? For example, if you go out on the streets of London today, you will find young girls showing too much skin and wearing crop tops and ripped skinny jeans or mini skirts. This shows how English culture has changed over time, as during the 1920s women were expected to cover their skin up to their ankles.
Beauty is difficult because we don’t know how to control it and how we are supposed to live up to the expectations of fashion.
My third point is freedom. Before 1929 women were not given freedom, they couldn’t vote, own properties, have their own businesses or work a 9-5 job. Women didn’t have the choice, they were hidden behind men as they grew careers, financial properties and life aspects. Women are now using this right so they can own their lives by themselves and are responsible for how they live. However, as their freedom grew, the beauty of not doing anything disappeared and their confidence in their beauty and body decreased. This created the fact that more women concentrated on beauty more than anything else. This can be evidenced by the quote “30,000 American women told researchers that they would rather lose 10-15lb than achieve any other goal” Naomi Wolf(1990, p . 1, line . 29). This suggests that women felt that beauty was more important than anything else including their right to vote. They were overwhelmed with choice, that beauty took over and the fashion industry took advantage of the new law. This created change within society as women learnt of how to vote and live the life of a man. By creating new fashion stores and increasing stock, women were brought into the economy. Learning about choice in the industry and introduced to self-pressuring thoughts about their beauty towards everyone else.
The quote “Strong men battle for beautiful women, and beautiful women are more reproductively successful.” Naomi Wolf(1990, p .2-3, line . 38) suggests that women don’t feel beautiful and meaning that beauty is difficult if you don’t believe you are. This then creates anincrease in buying clothing to achieve the best, newest trend. Women kept buying more and more to keep up to trend meaning that the consumer spending doubled as stated in this quote “During the past five years consumer spending doubled” Naomi Wolf(1990, p .1, line . 27).
Having the freedom to decide to be different, is a lot of power in which clothing stores took advantage of, and invested in, by building more stores and new clothing ranges. People used their freedom to create their own style and built a new wardrobe based on their originality and beauty.However, as shown in this quote “Beauty is a currency system like the gold standard. Like any economy it is determined by politics, and in the modern age in the west it is the last, best belief system that keeps male dominance intact.” Naomi Wolf(1990,p .3, line . 4), beauty is what men use for dominance against women as they show interest in what they look and present themselves like. Also, originality in beauty is difficult because you have the freedom to control the way you look but you as well have to compete against other people to be who you are an individual.
Beauty is difficult because you don’t have the freedom to buy everything you want. To be beautiful, most people feel that you need to look perfect or to have all the money in the world.However all you need is to know what you’re looking for, your maximum limit to spend and to have the freedom to do so.
Therefore to conclude this essay, there are many ways beauty is difficult. Including the topics choice, culture and freedom. We all have difficulty with choice, like what to wear or buy which makes being beautiful hard. Moreover, culture will always have an intake on fashion, with what to wear and what not to, but it’s our choice how we wear these religious clothes. Finally, freedom can be hard when there is no boundaries we don’t know where to start or stop, but fashion is a choice and we all have freedom within that, whether that’s a good thing or not.
bibliography
Borthwick, M.and Rose, Aaron., 2009. not in fashion. United states of America: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.
Wolf, N., 1990. The Beauty Myth. 1st ed. London: ChattoWindu.
Arbus, A., 1972. An Aperture Monograph. New York City: Aperture
Avedon, R., 2002. Portraits. New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated.
The Guardian. 2018.Flat-pack fashion: Ikea takes swipe at Balenciaga's $2,150 shopping bag | Fashion | The Guardian. [ONLINE] Available at: [Accessed 05 January 2018].
Andreas Gursky | works - Media Markt. 2018.Andreas Gursky | works - Media Markt. [ONLINE] Available at: [Accessed 05 January 2018].